Wales will become a “world leader” in the causes and treatment of pupil bad behaviour and truancy following research, the chair of the national behaviour and attendance review said this week.
Speaking a week before the launch of the review body’s major report, Professor Ken Reid, deputy principal of Swansea’s Metropolitan University, said no other country had gained such a comprehensive insight into the minds of disaffected pupils, as well as parents, who were troubled teens at school.
He said the research, which is expected to reveal bad behaviour starting in schools from a younger age, will expose the full extent of the problem, with far-reaching recommendations that are potentially law-changing in a 160-page report.
Professor Reid also claimed that authors of the Steer Review in England, an equivalent investigation over the border, have revised their drafts after seeing the Welsh research undertaken over the past two years.
Researchers for NBAR have interviewed 149 disaffected young people - 78 from primary schools and 71 from secondaries.
The paper, which is also expected to cover a growth in primary absenteeism as well as increases in unofficial exclusions in-depth, contains 19 core recommendations, with a further 50 in support.
“This report is without doubt a world first,” said Professor Reid. “This is a good news story though, with serious recommendations intended to make the lives of teachers easier.”
